A stock take is a physical count of everything on your shelves, checked against the quantities Shopify thinks you have. Shopify can only sell what its numbers say is there, so if the numbers drift, you oversell things you don't have and hide things you do. Counting regularly catches the damage, miscounts, mis-picks and theft that cause that drift, and fixes them before they become cancelled orders.
You can do a stock take on Shopify three ways: with Shopify's own stock counts in the admin, with Quick count in Shopify POS, or with an inventory app. This guide covers all three, including Stock Control, the inventory app we build. It's part 2 of our inventory series: part 1 covers getting set up and part 3 covers exporting your inventory data.
The short version
- Make sure every product you'll count has Inventory tracked on and a unique barcode or SKU in Shopify.
- In your Shopify admin, go to Products → Inventory → Stock counts and click Create count.
- Choose the location, add the products to count, and click Save.
- Click Start count and scan or type what's physically there.
- Click Request review, compare the Expected and Counted columns, recount anything that looks wrong, then click Approve.
Approving updates your inventory and can't be undone, so the review step matters.
What a stock take is, and why you need one
Every sale, return, transfer and manual edit changes Shopify's on-hand number. Most of the time that's accurate. But a dropped box, a return put back on the wrong shelf, a variant picked instead of its neighbor, or a unit that simply walked out the door don't record themselves. Over months those small gaps add up, and they show up at the worst moment: a customer orders your last one, and it isn't there.
A stock take resets the record to reality. Most stores do two kinds:
- A full count of a whole location, once or twice a year, often before your busiest season or at the end of your financial year.
- Cycle counts of one section, vendor or product type at a time, every week or month, so no area goes long without a check. Fast sellers and expensive items deserve more frequent counts.
Whichever tool you use, the cycle is the same:
Before you count
- Check barcodes. Scanning only works if the barcode in Shopify matches the label exactly, leading zeros included. In Shopify's stock counts, a barcode shared by two products returns an error, so fix duplicates first.
- Turn on tracking. Products need Inventory tracked turned on, and must be stocked at the location you're counting.
- Pick a quiet time. Sales during a count change the expected quantity under you. Count before opening, after closing, or pause fulfillment from that location for an hour.
- Divide the space. Count one shelf, aisle or bin at a time, and give each counter their own section.
- Count on-hand stock. That's everything physically there, including units already committed to unfulfilled orders.
How to do a stock take in the Shopify admin
Shopify's built-in stock counts live under Products → Inventory → Stock counts. You create them in the admin on a desktop browser, and each count covers one location.
1. Create the count
- Click Create count, then Select location to count.
- Optionally add a Name, Planned date, Tags and a Note. A name like "Back room, October" makes history easy to read.
- In Search products to add, search or scan the products to include, click Add to count, then Save. The count is saved as a Draft.
2. Count
Open the count and click Start count. Type quantities into each product's Count field, or use a barcode scanner: each scan adds one, so you can scan every unit, or scan one and type the total. Scanning something that isn't on the list adds it to the count. Several people can count at once, and each quantity is credited to whoever recorded it in the Counted by column. You can stop and click Continue count later without losing anything.
3. Review and approve
When you're done, click Request review. The count moves to Review, and a manager compares the columns:
If a line needs recounting, click Reject count on it and Save. Rejected items aren't updated when you approve; count them again in a new stock count. Then click Approve. Shopify applies the difference between counted and expected quantities, records each change in the product's adjustment history, and marks the count Completed.
Counting in Shopify POS
If you have a shop, you can count on the POS device you already use:
- Quick count is for spot checks. Activate it once from Sales channels → Point of Sale in the POS editor, by turning on Start quick count. Staff open a product, tap Start quick count, count manually or by scanning, and tap Submit. A session can cover up to 1,000 variants, and several devices can count the same location at once.
- Stock counts in POS let staff work through a count you created in the admin, then request a review. This needs a Shopify POS Pro subscription at that location. Staff can only count the listed items, and if a product sells during the count, it's marked outdated and can't be counted.
Doing a stock take with Stock Control
Shopify's stock counts handle the count itself well. We built Stock Control for stores that want counting to sit alongside receiving, transfers, purchase orders, reorder alerts and forecasting in one place. In the app:
- Click New Stock Scan, choose Count, and pick the location. Count everything, or filter to one vendor or product tag for a cycle count.
- Scan with your device's camera or any Bluetooth or USB scanner in keyboard (HID) mode. The first scan adds a product with a count of 1; each further scan adds one, or tap the quantity to type it.
- Watch the status column: Match, a green +N for an overage, a red −N for a shortage, or Not counted.
- Decide what to do with unscanned items. Leave them as not counted and Shopify isn't changed for them, confirm zero one by one, or use Mark all uncounted as zero.
- Click Commit. Counted items are set to exactly your counted quantity, and each change shows in Shopify's inventory history.
Stock Control also runs inside Shopify POS as a tile on the home screen. There, completing a scan lets you choose Replace Stock, Add to Stock or Records Only, which saves the count for reference without touching inventory.
Shopify built-in or an app?
| Shopify stock counts | Quick count (POS) | Stock Control | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Planned full and cycle counts | Quick spot checks in store | Counting plus receiving, transfers and reordering |
| Where you count | Admin; POS with POS Pro | Shopify POS | Admin, mobile and POS |
| Barcode scanning | Yes | Camera or supported scanner | Camera, Bluetooth or USB scanner |
| Manager review | Yes, before approval | No | Review before you commit |
| Uncounted items | Only listed items are counted | Only what you count changes | Left unchanged, or mark all as zero |
| Forecasting and reorder alerts | No | No | Yes |
| Cost | Included with Shopify | Included with POS | Paid plans, 7-day free trial |
If counting is all you need, start with Shopify's stock counts. If you're also chasing purchase orders in spreadsheets or finding out about stockouts from customers, that's where an app earns its place.
If the numbers look wrong
- A product won't scan. Compare the barcode in Shopify with the label, including leading zeros; some scanners drop them. Search by name or SKU instead.
- "Product not found" or a duplicate barcode error. Two variants share a barcode, or the barcode isn't on the variant at all. Fix it in the product, then rescan.
- A product isn't in the count. It isn't tracked, or isn't stocked at that location.
- The change doesn't show in Shopify. Check the quantity at the location you counted, not the all-locations total. Open the product and look at its adjustment history for the count.
- A big shortage on one line. Before approving, look for the stock somewhere else: a second shelf, the returns pile, an unfulfilled order already packed. Then recount.
Common questions
Does Shopify have a stock take feature?
Yes. Stock counts, under Products → Inventory → Stock counts, let you create a count for a location, record quantities by scanning or typing, and review them before inventory changes. Shopify POS also has Quick count for spot checks.
How often should I do a stock take?
A full count once or twice a year, plus smaller cycle counts every week or month. Count fast-moving and expensive items more often.
Can I use my phone as a barcode scanner?
Yes. Quick count and Stock Control both scan with the device camera. For large counts, a Bluetooth or USB scanner is much faster.
Can I undo a stock count?
No. Approving or completing a Shopify stock count can't be undone. Fix mistakes by adjusting the quantity or running a new count for those items.
Can several people count at once?
Yes. Shopify's stock counts credit each quantity to the person who recorded it, Quick count allows several POS devices at one location, and Stock Control supports multi-device scanning.
What happened to Stocky's stocktakes?
Shopify retired the Stocky app and points merchants to stock counts and Quick count instead. Stocky stopped working on August 31, 2026, and its old stocktakes don't move into Shopify automatically, so export any history you want to keep while read-only access lasts. More in Shopify replaced Stocky: what comes next.
Next in the series
Once your counts are in, part 3 covers exporting your inventory data for reporting. If you stock more than one store, see running one inventory across multiple Shopify stores. To try Stock Control, install it from the Shopify App Store with a 7-day free trial; the Stock Control help centre covers each workflow in detail.